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April 9 - 16, 2009 The Independent Weekly 11 www.independentweekly.com.au in line of fire day he coached me”), and then it was a few miserable weeks of door-knocking the mighty estab- lishment doors that barricade the offices of English newspapers. “Des and I thought we’d crack Fleet Street,” he says. “I’d done two-years of cadetship and we had a letter of introduction from The Advertiser. It was a pity that there were 600 English journalists out of work.” The pen, of course, is mightier than the sword, but hunger is mightier still. They’d cooked and eaten the wolf which came knock- ing at the door and that’s when Don decided on a life agricultural. “It was pretty hard to stay alive,” Don admits as he helps himself to another crumb of cracker at his large Hills home. The swimming pool cover shows no sign of having been removed in months, tennis court looks unplayed. Through the window the garden has that genteel messi- ness of olde worlde charm and there are fresh walnuts beside his tea-cup. He’s balding now, his complex- ion ruddy. This man has lived a life and asked much of it. It’s delivered him to places foreign and domestic, from Taiwan to Hong Kong, from Cheviot Beach reporting the disappearance of Prime Minister Harold Holt to the ’67 bushfires which roasted Tasmania. He’s rubbed shoulders briefly with Rupert Murdoch, witnessed the birth of a nation in Malaysia, and told Australians that Russia was building an iron curtain, a concrete wall, between two sides of Berlin. But first he needed a feed. “Working on farms,” he says of his misery in England after the British press inexplicably failed to recognise his talents. “Picking strawberries and tulips and potatoes. It was dread- ful piece work. It was brutal,” he says but this time with less vengeance. “Then I got a job in a pub and rose to the rank of assistant chef – I was very proud of that.” Don and Des cycled around southern England on a tandem pushie, finding adventures while “losing our friendship”, a bit more farmwork and then, “we wandered broke and starving across Europe”. At the end of the year he came home. England was apparently not yet ready for the antipodean, but Adelaide welcomed him back so it was to the ’Tiser again for food and shelter. At that stage there were two daily newspapers in town, the Advertiser and the News. The ’Tiser was in the Herald and Weekly Times camp, and it sent him to its Melbourne offices where he camped in Dene’s Court, a famous boarding-house for young journalists. Graham Freudenberg (later to become Whitlam’s speechwriter) and Evan Williams (who would go on to head Neville Wran’s arts department, and who now writes film reviews in The Australian) dossed there as well. It was a short stroll to the members’ stand at the MCG and so close to the fledgling headquarters of the Democratic Labor Party that “the new party was hatched in front of us, and I had the gloomy pleasure of telling (ALP parliamentary leader) Arthur Calwell that his party had split”. Don returned to Adelaide from Melbourne fully expecting to get the news that he’d been promoted to work as a foreign correspond- ent in London. Instead he was sent to the newsroom at ADS Channel 7 (now 10). He would introduce some stories on-air, and newsreader Ian Cochius was “a terrific bloke, terrific talent, but he up and died on us”. These were the days before news tape. Stories would be filmed in black and white with a magnetic stripe on the film to capture sound, though most stories were shot on silent footage. There were no instant satellite links to the rest of the world, interstate calls had to be booked through the switchboard and international calls could hardly be booked at all. It was rough, it It’s not journalism if it’s the product of some public relations campaign whether that’s from government, some firm or organisation – even if it’s some nice organisation. There’s too much supplied content now, not enough research, not enough checking, no time to verify. A journalist has to research, check and verify, and then express it beautifully.” was mainly live, and it worked. It was great tv. It was honest news compiled by honest newsmen. And then it was back to the ’Tiser as a special features writer, features editor, chief sub-editor, news editor and finally editor of the whole shebang. “On my first day as editor, in 1975, I sat there in the office, just sat there, and I wondered what editors do. There was nobody around in the newsroom and the phone rang. “It was Graham Perkin, The Age’s editor, and he said: ‘I’ve got a story. It will need masses of print space and it will topple the Government. Are you in on it?’ It was the Tirath Khemlani expose. And it did bring the government down.” Don was editor-in-chief when the word came that a new bloke was buying the paper. It was Rupert Murdoch, the ’Tiser’s traditional rival. “I left within a few weeks of Murdoch buying it,” Don says. “There were several reasons. I didn’t like him. I couldn’t see where I would fit in. It was overgrown in my head that this man was a bastard. “I think now that I was wrong. I regret that. But he was pretty hands-on and had a reputation for interfering. I should have stayed though, and fought to keep the quality up.” And so off to retirement marched the former midship- man, taking with him a locker of memories. He’s seen film give way to tape, tape to hard drive, telex to e-mail, the age of the internet born and grow. Communications in the year 2009 is no longer leisurely, no longer contemplative. It’s fast, it’s instantaneous, and it’s unreliable. “It’s as important as ever to find out what’s going on,” he says, “to find out what’s going on and to tell people so that people can agree or disagree. We as journalists have to share the knowledge. “Journalism is as exciting for young people as it was to us. It doesn’t matter if it’s on-line – the delivery system doesn’t matter. “But there is a trend in electronic journalism I don’t like. An assumed fact becomes a fact and gets blogged around the world. The checks have gone, the balance has gone. “It’s not journalism if it’s the product of some public relations campaign whether that’s from government, some firm or organisation – even if it’s some nice organisation. “There’s too much supplied content now, not enough research, not enough checking, no time to verify. A journalist has to research, check and verify, and then express it beautifully.” There’s more to tell of Don’s world, of course – of his current work writing tender documents for hundred-million dollar projects like the redevelopment of Adelaide Oval, State Library and Hawke building. Tenders for Manila’s water and sewerage system and Telstra Dome and the panda enclosure at Adelaide Zoo. “It takes writing skill. You have to develop an argument. It can’t be bullshit or a political argument though.” But it’s time to go. Don apologises for not offering lunch. His wife Jill apologises. Don understands that the interview must end without time for a repast – there’s more deadlines, and the story of Don Riddell is one of many words which have to be written this day. It won’t be perfect and it may not escape a dreaded error of fact. It can skim lightly across a life lived deeply.Writing such a story is like producing a film about a living cinematographer: one invites one’s work to be judged harshly by its subject. It hardly seems fair. After all, journos are supposed to be hospitable, and a drink is seldom out of the question. Will I accept a good warming Cooper’s Stout on a cold autumn afternoon before I leave? Sorry, Don. No time. You’ll understand, Don. It’s deadlines, Don, and all the errors are mine. Just don’t be too brutal. National Men’s Health Policy Adelaide Forum 22 APRIL 2009 The Department of Health and Ageing is pleased to invite members of the community, especially men, to attend a forum being held in Adelaide as part of the development of Australia’s fi rst National Men’s Health Policy. The forum is an opportunity for men to hear about health issues that affect them, to speak up about areas of concern and to ensure the National Men’s Health Policy includes what men themselves want and need. The forum is also an opportunity to meet some of Australia’s newly appointed Men’s Health Ambassadors and hear what men’s health means to them. Date: Wednesday, 22 April 2009 Time: 6pm-8pm Venue: Stamford Grand Adelaide - Ballroom 1-2 Moseley Square, Glenelg. Venue opens from 5 pm. Come early to meet other men and enjoy some light refreshments. To RSVP, send an email to: national.mens.health.policy@health.gov.au or call 02 6289 6859. There is no cost to attend the forums. Your RSVP is important for catering. The Developing a National Men’s Health Policy for Australia – Resource Kit will provide the basis of discussion. See the National Men’s Health Policy website, www.health.gov.au/menshealthpolicy, for copies or for further information. hmaC097331 Above: Don had no time for Murdoch, centre, and quit The Advertiser soon after the takeover. Below: Don at home today.